A former health department driver who is currently jobless and homeless has been detained for stealing an SUV from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Police claimed that he picked up passengers while operating the car as a taxi before abandoning it near Nadiad when his fuel ran out. The intruder took the SUV on December 9.

The Mahindra Scorpio with the registration GJ-01-G-5315 was taken from the parking lot of the AMC’s Aarogya Bhavan office in Jamalpur by Sahilkhan Maqsoodkhan Pathan, 38, a resident of Kalupur. According to officials, Pathan allegedly admitted to taking the vehicle. Inspector PH Bhati claimed that Pathan utilised the stolen car as a taxi to pick up passengers.

“He drove the passengers to Vadodara city and then returned to Ahmedabad. On his way back the vehicle ran out of fuel near Nadiad and he abandoned it on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara Expressway. He then walked back to the city,” he said.

Later, the court sent Pathan to judicial custody. The Nadiad Rural Police turned over the abandoned vehicle to the Ahmedabad City Police after discovering it. It will thereafter be released to the AMC in accordance with court directions.

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